MMO
by Leather Sky
Summary: A completed story request. Akihiko knew he never should have let Junpei talk him into playing.
1. Create an Account

Homework could wait, Junpei was having too much fun. After Innocent Sin, he'd told himself that he wasn't going to get sucked into another MMO, but Kenji had raved about this one so much that Junpei finally gave in. Twelve glorious hours later, his eyes were dried out and he felt like his body was fused to his chair, but he didn't even care. He was just about to join another party and go slaughter something big when there was a knock at his door.

"Come back later, I'm busy." Junpei reached for his Mad Bull and then shook it irritably when it proved to be empty.

"Could you at least turn that shit down then?"

That was Senpai's voice. Junpei blinked and then got out of his chair, a little stiffly. He opened the door and squinted at Akihiko. "Damn, what time is it anyway?"

"It's almost eleven. What the hell are you doing in here?" Akihiko tried to look past Junpei's shoulder.

"Lighten up a little Senpai, it's just a video game. Besides, Minato hasn't said anything about the noise."

"Minato isn't here." Akihiko crossed his arms and leaned against the doorjamb. "He's out with one of his lady friends."

Junpei pushed past him to go for more soda. "I seriously hate that guy."

Akihiko's persistant voice followed him down the hallway. "I don't really give a fuck_ how _you feel about him, but could you turn your stupid game down!"

"Fine, fine!" Junpei grunted as he plugged his coins into the machine. "Have your peaceful little sleep or study time or whatever." He fished out his sodas and came back. Akihiko wasn't happy to see that he'd gotten three more cans.

"...you're going to keep playing, aren't you?"

"I said I'd be quiet."

"We have school tomorrow."

"So? I'm a big boy. You shouldn't worry so much, Senpai." Junpei popped one can and took a slug of Mad Bull, having to juggle a little to keep everything else from dropping on his shoes. He went back in his room and pointedly looked at Akihiko as he turned the volume down. "Now if there's nothing else, I'm real busy."

Akihiko sighed and rubbed the back of his head, looking like he was going to stay there in Junpei's doorway. But evidently he decided that it wasn't worth arguing about, and Junpei watched with relief and some disappointment as Akihiko silently turned and went back to his room. Junpei did his best to get back into the game-mindset and soon enough, he was grinning and pounding keyboard buttons again, all momentary unease forgotten.

A few days later, they went to Tartarus again and Akihiko finally managed to get sick. He'd been taking care of himself religiously up until that point, but there was supposedly another big shadow on the way in a week or so and Minato had ended up working them all half to death. Most of the other people in the dorm weren't feeling that great either, but one or two of them were still fine. Mitsuru was going around with Fuuka and doing what she could for the girls, while Junpei was stuck seeing if the guys needed anything. Akihiko thought that Junpei clearly didn't relish his duty that much, or maybe he was still sore about the other night. Either way, he wasn't being very helpful and Akihiko finally lost patience with him.

"Look, if you don't wanna be here, then just leave. I'll be fine," Akihiko growled in between spasms of coughing.

Junpei blinked. "What does that mean? I'm just trying to be nice here."

"I should have known it'd be you left, you're too dumb to get sick..." Akihiko rubbed his nose miserably until Junpei handed him a box of tissues. "...thanks." He mopped at his face, which seemed to be leaking everywhere. The truth was, if there was anything he hated more than being sick, he hated anybody seeing it.

"Fine, have it your way man." Junpei stood up, then paused. "Shit, I almost forgot." He dug around in his pocket and handed Akihiko a disc.

"What the hell's this?" Akihiko's eyes were still kind of watery so he had to stare at it for a second. "Wait...that stupid game?"

"Yeah, I know you're not into that stuff, but if you're gonna be laid up for a couple of days you might like having something to focus on."

"This is just stupid..." Akihiko flung the disc down but since he didn't have much energy it just bounced a foot or two down the bed and stayed there.

"Jeez, you're such a jerk when you're sick. Well, later." Junpei went to the door.

"Um. Junpei." Akihiko frowned and touched the disc.

"Hm?"

"I guess I'm being a jerk because I hate you seeing...I mean, I hate anyone seeing me like this. ...Sorry."

Junpei turned back to him. "Senpai, that's dumb. Everybody gets sick. It's a fact of life."

"...I guess. I just don't like being weak. That's all it really boils down to." Akihiko looked down at his lap. Junpei noticed he was clutching the disc now.

Junpei smiled a little. "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger, right? I think I heard that somewhere, anyway." Akihiko's chin jerked up and he looked at Junpei in surprise, but the door was already quietly shutting.


	2. Make your Character

Akihiko scowled at his screen, then coughed again. Why did the simple fighter he decided on making have to start out so weak? He was actually having trouble killing giant bugs. Bugs! when he could take down a shadow several times his size in the real world. He almost closed the game out, but then he frowned. Wouldn't that be like giving up? No way he was going to do that, even in some stupid video game. So, with his mouth set in a thin line of determination, he set out to make his fighter stronger.

More than three hours passed without him noticing. He glanced over at the clock and then started in shock, almost sending his laptop crashing to the floor. He'd had no idea he was playing so intently. _But it wasn't totally my fault_, he told himself. _It was that guy_. At some point while he was grinding his fighter, Akihiko had run across a much higher-level player and his new friend had evidently been bored enough to wander around with him and help him level his character. At first Akihiko was embarassed to have someone else helping him, but he had forgotten that pretty quickly once they really started talking. The guy (at least, Akihiko assumed he was a guy) was actually really fun to talk to, and the hours had just slipped by.

Akihiko sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. _Losing track of the time like that. I'm almost as bad as Junpei..._ He looked down at his game again and typed, "Thanks for helping so much today, I think I'd better take a break." His friend replied "No problem" and said he'd catch him later. Akihiko almost found himself tempted to ask when, but stopped himself in time. The other player had shown him how to set it up so that they'd each see it when the other one logged in, so it wasn't like he couldn't find him again. He closed his laptop and stretched, already planning a trip to the kitchen.

Later that night, after he'd done everything he could think of doing while he was too sick to train or fight, he opened his computer again with resignation. It was still a little too early to go to sleep. That was really the only reason he was thinking of playing some more...it wasn't like he liked the game that much. And it wasn't like it meant anything when he saw his new buddy's name pop up and found himself smiling. It just meant that he was happy there was someone else playing who he could talk to. Akihiko made an inward promise to himself to only play for an hour or at absolute maximum, two, and messaged his friend.

He was still playing when midnight rolled around. They had just taken down a monster and were congratulating each other when his friend stopped and wrote, "Well I guess that's enough for tonight." Akihiko was disappointed but then he noticed the time. He hastily agreed that it was getting late and after saying their goodnights, he logged off. He laid back in bed, thinking it was lucky that his friend had to go at midnight too. Otherwise it would be a real pain to sit around during Dark Hour doing nothing and then make sure he was back on his computer when everything came back on. He thought sleepily about everything they'd talked about. Akihiko didn't spend a lot of time online, so he hadn't been aware of how easy it was for strangers to confide in each other. But it was sort of nice to tell things to this odd guy he would never actually meet in real life. He hadn't said anything about Dark Hour or the shadows, naturally, but there were other things that he couldn't really tell anyone else...it was a relief... By this time Akihiko was asleep. He didn't hear Junpei getting ready for bed down the hall.

The next day was Sunday again. Akihiko was feeling better but he still knew he shouldn't train, so that gave him more spare time. This time he didn't even try to stall before he turned on his computer and logged into the game. As he had hoped, his friend was on again. They immediately began talking, and for once Akihiko wasn't as concerned about fighting. They killed almost as an afterthought while the conversation continued.

"So you haven't seen him in awhile? ...wow, you're almost caught up to me now."

Akihiko's fighter looked their latest kill over for items and then stood up again. "Thanks to you. ...yeah, I haven't seen him in awhile, I kind of chased him away the last time he was here."

"Well you know they say 'if you love someone, set them free.' "

"Don't be a prick."

"Sorry." The other fighter was probably chuckling behind his computer screen somewhere in the real world, but all Akihiko saw was an expressionless visor. "I won't tease you anymore about him."

"No, it's okay." Akihiko bit his lip and typed faster, then had to stop and erase half of it because he kept making typos. "I'm just being stupid anyway. I don't know why I keep thinking about him...he's just some dumb guy who sits on his ass all day and plays videogames...uh, no offense."

"So harsh. What do you think I am, huh? Well, I guess I don't play videogames _all the time_, but..."

"Yeah, yeah..."

The other fighter sat down under a tree. "Actually, I know how you feel. There's this guy I sort of like too. I keep noticing him, anyway. But we don't have much in common."

"Really?" In spite of seeing a new monster appear not too far off, Akihiko's character sat down too. "What are you gonna do?"

"Well, I can't really do anything. It's not like he would give me the time of day. Shit, if I told him, he'd punch me in the face."

"Sounds like a real jerk..."

Akihiko's friend stood up. "I thought he was being a jerk too, but the truth is, he's just..."

Akihiko waited but the sentence was never finished. Instead, his friend had finally seemed to notice the monster and the next thing Akihiko knew, he was getting up and stepping in to help him. They didn't end up talking too much for the rest of the day, focusing more on fighting instead.


	3. Make New Friends

Junpei glumly killed another griffon. He had been having a lot of fun with this game until a couple of days ago, but now it was getting boring again. He guessed it was because he'd been turning down party invitations lately and just playing solo, but somehow he just didn't feel like fighting in a group lately. He swished the last dregs of his soda around in the can and then swallowed it, wincing a moment later from the flat taste. If he was honest with himself, it was because he'd been waiting for that guy to show up again. Playing with other people just wasn't as fun now, and besides, if he went off with a group and his friend did come online, he wouldn't be able to go fight with him. Junpei sighed and tossed his can in the trash, leaning far back in his chair to the point where he almost, but not quite, fell backwords. _This is just pathetic_, he thought.

Then he leaned forward excitedly in his chair and started to type rapidly. His friend had come on after all! Junpei went immediately to his location, hoping he didn't seem as excited as he was.

"What the hell are those things?" Evidently his gaming buddy wasn't familiar with the wing equip.

Junpei strutted his character around proudly. "Special item. It took me forever to make 'em, what do you think?"

"So...you're a knight with wings now, huh..."

"Yeah, I'm that awesome. ...what, do knights with wings do it for you or something?" Junpei thought it was humorous how impressed the other guy sounded.

"Shut up, it just reminds me of something. Let's drop it." His friend stalked off to go kill something and Junpei's winged knight followed, bemused. He'd made himself the wings so he could look a little more like Hermes. It wasn't like this guy would know what the hell he was talking about if he said that, though.

After they'd battered a few creatures, Junpei typed again. "So where have you been the past couple of days?"

The other fighter straightened up. "Well to be honest, I don't really play video games...I don't have much time for it."

"Oh..." Junpei felt vaguely depressed. He didn't really know what to say next.

"But, tonight I finished up early, so I thought I'd come see if you were on." The fighter held out his hand. "Here's your half."

"Oh, uh, thanks." Junpei wasn't particularly interested in what they'd gotten from the monster. "It's too bad you can't play much, I was really starting to like talking to you."

"Yeah, me too. Too bad we don't have any other way to talk."

"Well I mean, we could trade numbers, or..."

"No offense, but that's a little risky, isn't it?" Apparently his friend was both cautious and blunt. But, Junpei reflected, that was only fair. It wasn't like they knew anything about each other except game stats and some relationship problems.

"I guess you're right." Junpei quit typing for a minute and rubbed his stomach. "Damn, I'm hungry...I was so busy that I didn't eat earlier." He left out "waiting around for you."

His friend wasn't impressed. "That was dumb. If you eat late you'll have trouble going to sleep."

"You worry too much. All I have to do is make a quick ramen trip...will you be on later?"

"I don't know, how quick are we talking?"

"Hagakure's only a couple of minutes away." Junpei was already pulling on his jacket. He looked back at the screen for his friend's response.

"...you live near a Hagakure too?"

Junpei blinked, then put out one hand to type back while he shoved his cell phone and wallet into his pocket. "Yeah, that can't be too weird, right? Now it'd be _really_ weird if you lived in Port Island."

His friend didn't respond for long enough that Junpei thought he had gotten booted from the game or something, but then just as he was leaving to get his ramen he saw the reply flash onto his screen.

"I do live in Port Island."


	4. Finish Quest

"What day, then?"

"Sunday. That's when I have the most time."

"Me too. How do I recognize you?"

Akihiko scratched the back of his neck. Setting this up was annoying him, not to mention making him feel stupid. It was like when people agreed to a blind date and the girl had to say something dumb like, "I'll be wearing a yellow rose in my hair." He wasn't wearing a rose for anybody, yellow or otherwise. Finally he typed, "I'll be in a red shirt."

"Okay, you can look for a guy in a baseball hat."

"Fine. See you then." Akihiko closed his laptop and rubbed one eye. ...a baseball hat? Why the hell did it have to be a baseball hat, of all things? Well, he supposed lots of guys wore them. Like sex offenders or yakuza trying to keep a low profile. Yeah, this would be interesting. Well, too late to back out now.

Sunday rolled around and Akihiko was standing outside Hagakure at the appointed time. He'd actually arrived a few minutes early, and a glance inside had already confirmed that there were no guys in baseball hats around yet. He crossed his arms over his chest impatiently and resisted the urge to start pacing, hoping the owners didn't mind him leaning against their shop. He wasn't really sure whether he wanted his friend to show up, or bail out. While he was scanning the crowd again, he was startled by a hand on his shoulder. Akihiko spun around.

Akihiko blinked when he saw who it was. "Oh...hey Junpei."

Junpei wasn't looking at Akihiko, however. "Hey Senpai. Have you seen anybody in a red shirt?"

"...what?"

"I'm supposed to meet somebody here." Junpei smiled and tugged the rim of his hat absentmindedly, still looking around. He looked back to Akihiko to say more, but the words stopped dead in his throat. "...Damn, Senpai, what the hell's with that expression? You gonna sneeze or something?"

Akihiko put a hand to his eyes and refused to speak for several minutes. Junpei was about to give up on him and keep looking for his buddy, when Akihiko muttered something.

"Uh...what was that, Senpai?" Junpei frowned and leaned in.

"...Muhammed Ali."

Junpei stared at him. "Wh-What?"

Akihiko put his hand down and looked at him tiredly. "I'm Muhammed Ali. And you're Badass_Mofo, right?"

"Oh _**shit**_." Junpei took a step back. "I want to die now."

"You seriously couldn't come up with a better name?"

"Shut up Muhammed."

"Hey, he's a famous-"

"I know who fucking Muhammed Ali is." Junpei waved his hand and then sat down. "Wow, I guess I really should have figured out that it was you..."

"Why? I mean, what are the damned odds, that..." Akihiko bit his lip and dug his nails into his upper arm. "...that it would be _you_, of all people."

"Well don't sound so excited."

Akihiko frowned at him. "You know what I mean. There's gotta be thousands of people playing that stupid game."

"Well, maybe it's fate." Junpei shrugged. "You'd never confide in me like that in real life."

"Of course not! It's not like I could tell you that stuff." Akihiko glared.

Junpei glared right back at him. "Why not? Huh? What's so bad about having a crush on someone you can't do anything about? I mean, I'm in the same situation...I bet it happens all the time."

Akihiko stared at him. "You...seriously don't know why I couldn't tell you about it? Are you that dumb?"

"Don't call me dumb, dammit! What's the big deal, anyway? I mean, I know you said it was a guy, but..."

"It's not some guy, it's you. ...Idiot."

"See, there you go again, calling me-wait. What?"

Akihiko shook his head. "Forget it, I don't want to talk about this anymore. I knew this was a bad idea." He started to walk off.

Junpei chased after him. "Hey, wait! Wait dammit! So you really think I'm just an idiot who sits on his ass all day playing video games? Seriously?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Akihiko put his hands in his pockets and didn't look back.

"Well, you're a bossy violent older guy who worries too much!"

"Look, I really don't care what you..." Akihiko stopped walking. "...wait, isn't that what you said about the guy _you_ like?"

Junpei didn't answer. Akihiko finally turned back to look at him, against his better judgement.

Junpei stuck his chin out. "You really never noticed, did you? I knew it."

Akihiko was speechless after that. Finally, Junpei sighed and looked away. "...well anyway, yeah. It's you."

It took awhile, but Akihiko finally seemed to un-freeze in his tracks. He gulped and looked down uncertainly at the blank space between them. "Wh...What do we do now?"

Junpei shrugged. "I don't know. But the next time you make some dumb excuse to come to my room again, I'm not letting you leave."

"What...! You really were being too loud!" Akihiko's fists clenched.

"Whatever...I stand by my statement."

Junpei's elaborate unconcern just rattled Akihiko more. "Are you seriously trying to sound threatening? What makes you think you could win against me in any kind of fight?"

"I don't gotta fight you to keep you in one place, Senpai." Junpei put his hands on his hips matter-of-factly. "I just gotta seduce you. That's way easier."

Five minutes later Junpei woke up on his back on the sidewalk. He blinked and rubbed his temple painfully. Akihiko was nowhere around, so Junpei guessed he'd punched him and then stormed off. "Hmph...playing hard to get." Junpei stood up and dusted himself off. Obviously, this was going to be a challenge. Then, against all reason, he felt a broad smile forming on his face. Junpei had finally found a game that he wasn't going to get bored with.


End file.
